


Ink the Horizon Lines

by elendri



Category: No. 6 - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-21
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-11-30 00:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/693082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elendri/pseuds/elendri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Absence makes the heart uncertain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ink the Horizon Lines

On the night Nezumi returns, the sky is cloudless and speckled with stars. 

Shion is sitting out on the balcony, arms loosely clasped around one leg while he looks heavenward. Nezumi pauses by the stairs, silent, waiting. 

“I come out here some nights,” Shion says, not looking away from the sky. “Just sit here and look at them all. And I always find myself thinking that there aren’t enough stars in the sky for me to wish you were here.” 

Nezumi shifts uncomfortably. “Shion…”

“You were gone for so long this time.” Nezumi’s heart stutters when he hears the break in Shion’s voice. “I missed you.” 

“I missed you, too,” Nezumi quietly replies. “But I made it back in time, right?” 

Shion closes his eyes and lowers his head, a wry little smile on his face. “Yes. Just in time.” 

“Happy Anniversary,” Nezumi says, walking forward. He pulls a small, somewhat clumsily wrapped package out of his pocket and sets it on the table in front of Shion. “And Happy Birthday.” 

Shion opens his eyes and looks at the package. “Thank you.” He makes no move to open it. 

Nezumi sighs. “Shion…please don’t be like that,” he says wearily. “I thought we were passed this.” 

“I thought your trips away from home would get shorter, not longer,” Shion counters. “Is it only a matter of time before your next journey turns into forever?” 

Nezumi is silent, his eyes shadowed as he watches Shion. 

“Nezumi, Nezumi,” Shion trembles. “Can we ever truly come together? Are we fools to even try?” 

“I always come back to you, don’t I?” 

“But it’s always so hard to watch you go.” 

Nezumi steps away, every movement agitated as he reaches out his hands to clutch at the railing. “What are you trying to get at, Shion?” he bites out. “Because we’ve talked about this. This is our life. It’s…this is _it_. Real life doesn’t have the luxury of perfect, happy endings. You want me to play at being the domestic housewife? It won’t last. It never does. So if this isn’t enough for you, you may as well just end—”

“I _hate_ when you act like that!” There’s the sound of the chair crashing over as Shion abruptly shoots up, caught up in the heat of his words and his fury. “Like you don’t care, like it doesn’t hurt! Like it’s so easy to just shut it all off! Do you think I believe for one minute that it could be so simple to end this? Don’t try to shut me down like that, you know you aren’t fooling me. There has to be another way.” 

Nezumi turns and meets Shion’s defiant gaze. They shouldn’t be arguing, not like this, not on this day. A part of him wants to surrender, mollify Shion by agreeing and just take him into his arms. But lying like that isn’t in him. He shakes his head and looks down at the ground. “You’re pounding on an unlocked door, Shion,” he says. “There’s no hidden solution. We know the only answers; they’re right there. That’s all there is. You just have to pick one. No third option this time, Shion.” 

He hears Shion’s sharp intake of breath and looks up to see his eyes shining, excitement lighting up his features. “Yes, there is,” Shion says, before he throws himself at Nezumi and kisses him hard on the mouth. 

Nezumi’s arms are quick to wrap around him; _this_ was the greeting he’d been hoping for, _this_ was what he’d been craving, what he’d missed the most during his time away. All the warm hollows and hard planes of Shion, fitting just exactly right against his. He places a rough palm against Shion’s cheek and kisses him harder. 

Shion pulls away with a soft sigh, his face flushed. His hands come up to rest on Nezumi’s chest. “There _is_ a third option, Nezumi.” 

Nezumi stops fingering the hair on the nape of Shion’s neck and lets his hand drop away. “Okay,” Nezumi says warily. “And that would be?” 

“You never promised me a happy ending, and maybe we won’t get one—“

“—Shion, don’t—“ Nezumi interjects nervously. 

“—But I will go with you wherever you lead me.” 

Nezumi stares at Shion in shocked silence. “Are you saying you’ll…?”

Shion’s hands slide up to cup Nezumi’s face. “All you’ve ever wanted is to wander, and all I’ve ever wanted is to follow you. The next time you leave the city, I will be by your side.” 

Nezumi hasn’t moved, hasn’t blinked. “But your mother—“

“I will see her again. This is our home, and this is where we will return every time you’ve spent your wanderlust,” Shion says firmly. 

“Your work—“

“Will still be here when we come back.” 

They look at each other, Shion with triumph, Nezumi with hope not quite daring to make itself known. “Are you sure?” he asks quietly. 

“Yes,” Shion says. There is no hesitation in his voice, but Nezumi still looks uncertain. “Please, Nezumi. Let’s just go. We’ll go and forget everything, except what’s real.” 

“And what is real?” 

“We are,” Shion says simply, and his thumb brushes the corner of Nezumi’s mouth just before he leans in and kisses him. He tastes like afternoon sunlight and smells of summer rain and growing things, and Nezumi thinks he must have been insane to ever leave this man behind. 

He whispers, “ _Yes_ ,” into Shion’s mouth, and Shion arches up against him and claws a hand down his back. 

Nezumi answers Shion’s whimper with a groan and starts pulling them in the direction of the door, away from possible prying eyes and towards their bed. 

“Wait! My present,” Shion gasps, stumbling to a halt a foot away from the door. “I haven’t unwrapped it yet.” 

“Trust me, it’s shit anyway,” Nezumi growls, and he tugs Shion into their home to enjoy the comforts of their bed while they still can.


End file.
